Settlement reached in Dominion defamation lawsuit against Fox News
Here's how it looked inside the courtroom during the Fox vs Dominion case today
Fox News will pay more than $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems after lawyers from both sides hammered out a last-minute settlement of the defamation case launched against the right-wing network.
The deal was announced hours after the jury was sworn in at the Delaware Superior Court. Rumors of a settlement swirled in the courthouse when, after a lunch break, the proceedings dramatically ground to a halt for nearly three hours with no explanation, while the parties apparently hammered out an accord.
CNN's Bill Hennessy, court sketch artist, captured scenes from inside the courtroom:
Fox News settlement is the first time anyone has "paid the price" for election lies, Dominion's lead counsel says
Dominion Voting Systems had two goals in its defamation case against Fox News — accountability and “trying to make Dominion whole," said Justin Nelson, the lead counsel election technology company.
Both were accomplished in this settlement, he told CNN on Tuesday.
The payment of more than $787 million by Fox News to Dominion and the network's statement acknowledging that its coverage of the 2020 election was false was “a strong message of accountability” and an important victory for the employees of his client's company.
“This is really the first time that anyone has paid a price for telling the lies of the 2020 election and we're very proud about that," he said.
While the settlement does not stipulate that Fox's anchors must acknowledge the lies on air, Nelson said it was a consequential outcome for the network.
The texts and emails that emerged during the litigation process from inside the Fox network were valuable, he said. "And what today has shown is that you have to pay a price if you're telling lies."
Previous court filings revealed messages that showed that the most prominent stars and highest-ranking executives at Fox News privately ridiculed claims of election fraud in the 2020 election, despite the right-wing channel allowing lies about the presidential contest to be promoted on its air.
“It's a lot of what we teach our kids, which is that the truth does indeed matter, and if you are lying, eventually there's going to be consequences to that," Nelson said.
He said the settlement with Fox sends a "strong message" to other right-wing outlets in which Dominion has ongoing legal disputes.
